396 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



As if the American forest owners, the American lumbermen, were not in the fore- 

 most rank of the most successful business men on whom the sun ever shone ! As if 

 the " lumber jacks " destroying the forests were blindly following an old-fashioned 

 usage, without weighing the financial pros and contras of every feature of their 

 business ! 



Conservative Forestry as ct fastness. 



A good business is that which yields safe returns, steady returns, and high 

 returns on all business investments. 



Forestry is an insecure investment as long as wood fires prevail. 



Forestry is a clumsy investment, yielding irregular returns, as long as there is no 

 steady market for forest produce, as long as the country develops by leaps and 

 bounds ; as long as the chances for quick-witted speculation continue to be numerous 

 elsewhere in this wonderful country. 



Forestry yields small returns as long as forest preservation involves a large 

 annual outlay spent for protection and for taxes, an expense not counterbalanced by 

 adequate annual returns. 



Sure enough ! If forestry could offer a fair chance of very high returns, the 

 owner would willingly stand the risk of its insecurity and the fatal clumsiness of the 

 investment. 



The chances, however, for very high returns to flow from investments in con- 

 servative forestry are pretty slim. 



In America we are still facing enormous surplus stores of timber, surpassing the 

 annual demand a hundred fold. Thus, for a long time to come, the demand for forest 

 produce is not apt to be out of proportion with the available supply. 



All over the world forests do not grow at an annual rate of production exceeding 

 five per cent. Thus we cannot expect to derive a high rate of interest from forestry 

 as a business. 



These circumstances are beyond the sphere of human influence. There are other 

 impediments to forestry, however, which the people, with a view of leveling the road 

 to forestry, can remove as soon as they want to. 



Restricted Rierl)ts of Ownership. 



Take the term " forest property." It implies, legally, " the power of exclusive 

 use and exclusive control of a wood, for the owner's benefit." 



Does the wood owner have the exclusive use and benefit of his property? 



